IAE Grenoble 2004

25 September 2003

24 September 2003

Cuneiform at Qantir?

A report on an Austrian web site indicates that the Hildesheim expedition at Qantir in the Delta (site of Per-ramses) may have found a cuneiform tablet, which could be part of the diplomatic archive of Ramesses II. Readers may recall that such an idea was floated a couple of years back by the excavators, but there now appears to be some evidence for it.

Bolton Museum

12 August 2003

11 August 2003

James F. Romano

From Richard Fazzini at the Brooklyn Museum of Art:

It is with great sadness that the members of the Department of Egyptian, Classical and Ancient Middle Eastern Art of the Brooklyn Museum of Art announce the death of friend and Curator James F. Romano on August 11, 2003, as a result of injuries sustained in an automobile accident.

Regrettably it is only possible to get to this by logging in, and for copyright reasons I should not reproduce it here.]

[This has been a truly awful week for losses in Egyptology]

Sarah J. Clackson

From James Clackson:

Sarah Clackson died peacefully at home at 3.00 p.m. on Sunday August 10th. Her funeral will take place at the West Chapel, Cambridge Crematorium, at 12.45 p.m. on Tuesday 19th August.

Sarah did not want people to send flowers, but rather that money be donated to a fund in her name, to enable scholars to access her papers which will be held in the Archive of the Griffith Institute, Oxford, and to further her work in Coptic and papyrology. Cheques should be made out to the University of Oxford Development Trust (an accompanying note should say that it is for the Sarah (J.) Clackson Coptic Fund) and sent to:

University of Oxford Development Office (attention Paul Rickett)
Oxenford House
Magdalen Street
Oxford OX1 3AB
UK Further details about overseas payments available here

30 July 2003

Tuna el-Gebel

4 July 2003

27 June 2003

On 26 June, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld the conviction of Frederick Schultz, a prominent New York Antiquities Dealer. See a Press Release on the web site of the Archaeological Institute of America.

A report in al-Ahram Weekly indicates that a design has now been chosen for the new Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

19 June 2003

5 March 2003

Wilbour lists

After a break of the best part of three years, I am glad to say that the Wilbour Library accession lists are now being added to this site again. Follow this link to find out about them.

Apologies

My apologies for the lack of information over the past few months. A combination of various family troubles and breaking my laptop computer have made it next to impossible to find the time to deal with this page properly.

Death on the Nile' set

I realise this is rather close to commercialism, but readers may be interested to know that one of the sets for the film 'Death on the Nile' is for sale. This set I am told purports to be of the tomb of Sety I, although the shot I have seen of it is a pastiche of a private tomb and that of Nefertari. Anyone with further interest should look at the web site of the sellers, The London Architectural Salvage & Supply Co. http://www.lassco.co.uk/antiques I believe the guide price is along the lines of that of a very small car.

17 February 2003 [Cyberscribe]

Possible new temple of Ramesses II near Ehasynia

Foundation plaques found near Ehasynia (ancient Herakleopolis, near Beni Suef) indicate the presence of a Ramesside temple.

4 February 2003

30 January 2003

László Kákosy

News has come from Budapest of the death on 29th January, 2003 of László Kákosy, for many years occupant of the only chair of Egyptology in Hungary. Prof. Kákosy was an expert in Egyptian religion of the later periods, and for many years had been excavating at Thebes. We got to know him and his colleagues when we were working close to each other in the 1980s, and had many good times with them. He will be missed.

I shall add any obituaries here as they are announced. This information came from István Nagy.

New discoveries at Saqqara and Tell Basta

A new tomb at Saqqara and a statue at Bubastis; article in al-Ahram Weekly:

21 January 2003

4 January 2003

Examination of the mummy said to be Ramesses I

Back in July I reported on the suggestion being made by the Carlos Museum in Atlanta that one of their mummies, originally in the Niagara Falls collection, was that of Ramesses I. Readers may recall my extreme scepticism at the time, and that I suspected a publicity stunt, compounded by the offer, apparently now accepted, of returning the mummy to Egypt.

Now the scientist who examined the mummy in the 1980s has re-examined his files and the X-rays, and has come to the conclusion that there are no grounds on available evidence for making this association. The only way to obtain more evidence would be to compare DNA samples with the mummies of Sety I and Ramesses II in Cairo.

An article on the forthcoming 'Hidden Treasures' in Cairo

ROM

al-Ahram Weekly has a story with the history of the Royal Ontario Museum's involvement in Egypt.

Charterhouse School

This English public school has caused great controversy by selling off its collection, including a number of objects given to it by the Egypt Exploration Society. See an article in the Surrey Advertiser. The school has proved deaf to appeals and criticism; the Egyptians are also mounting a legal challenge. This reference is due to [Cyberscribe]